digital, Vendetta Music, 2010
http://www.myspace.com/necrotek
Fresh from his great breakthrough album last year, four more tracks to keep us going, from an artist that is continuing to be very interesting indeed.
I mentioned last time around, in my review of “Menschenfeind”, that it was a little in thrall to Skinny Puppy (not that it detracted from the quality of the album at all), and the title track swiftly pushes that back down my throat. While keeping the same pitch black atmosphere that was there before, the old-school industrial beat to this really does sound vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on where from – but it isn’t Skinny Puppy. Not only that, but it ramps up the pace to become a storming, dancefloor-bound track that could be seen in some circles to be verging on the anthemic. Additional points from me for the Spinal Tap sample, too, that gives the track its title, and suggests perhaps that not everything that this artist does is totally full of hatred.
Old-school is a description I’d use for “Alles Ist Nacht”, partly in German and partly in English, with its sparse structure being somewhat reminiscent of an old and forgotten-by-many favourite of mine, Heavy Water Factory. This is the darkness from the gothic fringes of industrial, with unplaceable film samples, prominent synth lines and simple but effective beats.
“Shadow Phase” is even more sparse, it’s vocals distorted nearly beyond all recognition, and a nice arpeggiated synth line that helps to distract from a thumping pulse of a beat that outmuscles nearly everything else here. “Decline and Fall”, after an amusing fifties-style radio announcement ordering you to turn up your set, is heralded by a fantastic, distorted bass line and unfolds into an instrumental sample-fest of the kind I’ve not heard since Bryan Erikkson or the Thrill Kill Kult used to churn this stuff out for fun.
It’s black Jim, but not as we knew it (before). This is the sound of Necrotek stepping out a little from the big, looming shadow of the influences, and starting to make good on the initial promise, even with a little less nihilism and a little more humanity than before. One to continue to watch and listen to, and this EP comes as highly recommended as the album “Meschenfeind” did.
[8.5/10]
— Adam Williams